White Denim

When I saw that White Denim has a new 45-minute live set featured on the PBS series Echo Sessions, my plan was to just skip over it just enough to get a feel for their new album, Performance, recently released via City Slang Records. I ended up playing the entire performance, captivated by the Austin band’s ability to convey so many pop culture references amidst such an instrumentally dense backdrop of rock and roll brouhaha. They’re spending around two months on the road promoting the new album, which is already racking up top shelf reviews at Pitchfork, Relix, and Mojo. It also earned them another slot on Conan O’Brien’s show, where they practically have cots backstage with the band’s names on them, they’re spending so much time in that studio lately. The April 28 date at the Belly Up in Solana Beach is pretty much the final show of the current tour, though they do have one summer festival booked at Red Rocks in Colorado. The bill include Oakland-based Once and Future Band, a 70s prog throwback evoking the best of Krautrock and space travelling acid rockers like Nektar, Tangerine Dream, Amon Duul II, and Focus.